Here's a question for you? Are you ever fully satisfied with yourself? If you say yes, I don't think you're being truthful with yourself. No matter who we are or what we do there is always room to grow. As a writer, I'm still a long way off from being able to write a book with as few of edits as possible. I'm so in the throes of learning this craft to make it the best I can. In the past year since I joined ACFW, I have learned so much on how to improve my writing. I'm still amazed … [Read more...]
Day 89: Worries of Writing Memoir
I want, no, I need to share this excerpt from the book I'm using. Even as I sit here writing this, I feel my eyes moistening. I hope you will see why this has touched my heart and maybe why God lead me to the very book to use in my 365 day journey. "Robin Romm worried whether to publish the memoir she had written about the last three weeks of her mother’s life. She wrote thirty pages of notes during those weeks, then ninety pages in the ten days after her mother died. Romm felt there were … [Read more...]
Day 84: How to Be a Writer
There's an age-old saying that says "patience is a virtue." However, God skipped the boat with me on that front. Sometimes I can feel the frustration boiling up to where my lid could blow a hole through the roof. I know my voice can suddenly shoot up to screaming in a second. This has been a flaw of mine since I can remember. Through all of this, God decided in His infinite wisdom that I could handle a blond hair, Caribbean blue-eyed beautiful little girl who happened to have severe classic … [Read more...]
Y is for yummy
Boy did Mari think her food was yummy. I swear I think we asked ourselves one too many times if Mari wore her food more than she ate it. It would be all over her face, in her hair, all over her clothes, and below her highchair all over the floor. You might be thinking, "Highchair?" Yes, Mari still sat in her highchair and actually preferred sitting there. When it was time to eat she would actually climb herself in, but that's a different story. Back to Mari's food. Mari thought something … [Read more...]
P is for patient
Because Mari taught me how to be patient. I always tell people that God has given some people the gift of patience, but I'm not one of them. Since I can remember I've struggled with being patient. I guess using the cliché, "She has a short fuse," can be pretty accurate most of the time. The thing is having a daughter with autism doesn't exactly mesh with someone who doesn't have patience. So who do you think is going to have to change? The person with autism whom you can't communicate with … [Read more...]
M is for Mari’s world
As Mari always had an infectious laugh when she visited Mari's world. I was talking to a friend this morning about Mari's world. When she would escape to go there you could tell because she would get this far off look. What I told my friend is maybe Mari's special world was heaven. Maybe in her world she got to talk to Jesus. She could walk around there without autism. A world where she was perfect. Wouldn't that be kewl. I smile just thinking about it. … [Read more...]
Day 67: Seinfeld’s Calendar
You might be thinking, "What in the world does Seinfeld's calendar have to do with writing?" It's simple. He too is a writer. A writer of comedy. He knows how to make people laugh. He was so good he even got his own TV show that went on for years. Personally, I was never a fan of his, but millions of people are. No, I may not have been a big fan of his show, but it remained on for years. Here's the thing. Did he become popular over night or do you think he worked at it several years while he … [Read more...]
Day 64: Writing Is Not Pretty
Are you a little confused by today's title? To be honest, so was I. So I got to thinking. When we are writing a book, or a play, or a blog post, or whatever type of writing that needs to be done. Our first drafts are anything but pretty. There are grammar mistakes galore (even though in our head it was perfect :( ) we have all the spelling errors that either our auto-correct didn't change our word automatically or we really messed up the spelling (gotta love spell check, a writer's best friend). … [Read more...]
Day 19: The Five Characteristics of Good Writing
When I saw today's topic, I was kind of excited to read what another writer thought of as her five best characteristics to writing. I was surprised to find out she didn't even list one. Instead, she went on to talk about always being prepared and the fact there are no cut and dried answers when it comes to writing. Just in the short time I've been writing, I have been told many different things that should or shouldn't be done when you write. For example, using the words 'was', 'were', and … [Read more...]
Something New (and hopefully exciting): A 365 Day Journey
I’ve been thinking about doing something for a while. I wanted to try to find a word a day to write about. I went searching on Amazon and found a few things I can do this with. However, it won’t be a word but instead writing prompts. I’ve decided to go with “A Year of Writing Dangerously: 365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement” by Barbara Abercrombie. I’ve wanted to do this for quite some time because I’d like to become more regular with posting on Mari’s website. I know when I write I … [Read more...]
